Deforestation in Protected Areas in the Brazilian Amazon: the case of Rondonia.

The establishment of Protected Areas (Conservation Units and Indigenous Lands) is one of the most effective and recommended strategies for conserving the Amazon rainforest. Some 34% of the Legal Amazon is in Protected Areas and, for the most part, these areas have served as a barrier against the advance of deforestation. However, in Rondonia, Protected Areas are being threatened by illegal deforestation. By 2004, deforestation had reached some 6.3% of the territory in the Protected Areas, while the average for the Amazon is only 1.7%. Furthermore, ten reserves had already lost more than 20% of the original forest and the deforestation rate has been increasing in these areas over the last few years. In this The State of the Amazon, the authors have quantified deforestation in the Rondonia Protected Areas up to 2004. Additionally, they have identified those Protected Areas that are most threatened by deforestation. The results obtained will be useful for guiding enforcement efforts and improving policies for maintaining the integrity of the State’s Protected Areas.